One of the most important things that traveled with me to the U.S. was my favorite armchair, where I’ve spent countless hours sitting together with Jesus.  Rest is a lot like this armchair.  It’s this place where you can kick your feet up and be yourself in Christ.  You sit down into it.  You take the weight off your feet and simply…relax.

The more I relax into God’s rest, the more I experience a deep conviction of who He is for me.  I feel completely safe, able to fully relax into Him with all my weight.

Rest is a gift we receive, not something we earn or achieve.  We don’t think our way into rest, we lean into it.  The Prince of Peace who lives in us, rises up and renews our minds.

The Father has placed each of us into the best place to encounter rest; He put us into Christ.  This means the Father literally placed you inside Peace when He came into your life.

As if that wasn’t enough, the Father also “seated us with Christ in heavenly places.”  Being “seated with Him” speaks to a posture of rest that our new man life has the luxury of enjoying.

God’s heart for man to live in rest goes all the way back to creation where man’s very first day of existence was God’s day of rest.

It was man’s first experience in life because rest is that important.

The Father did all of this, and more, to ensure that we would confidently know we have permission to start our day in rest, live our day in rest and finish our day in rest.

No matter what is going on in our lives, that place of peace and rest is always available, always present because God is always present to  Jesus in us.

Peace is not subject to the events around us.  The events around us need to be subject to our peace.

So take a moment today, quiet yourself before Him, focus in on this brilliant position He’s granted us and relax…

…into His peace as it rises up from inside of you.

…into His presence as it comes and settles in on you.

…into His rest and watch it drive out the noise and negativity around you.

…into His strength as you wait for it to come and renew your strength.

…into the gracious gift of peace and express your love for Him.

I’m sure you know of a few more promises you can relax into.  Go ahead and spend some time relaxing into those promises with Him in the armchair of rest.

PS) If you’re interested in learning more about how you can cultivate a lifestyle of rest, start your journey with our resource bundle The Rest Bundle.